A large number of modern material handling systems are designed to handle one type of package or item efficiently but lack the flexibility to handle a wide variety of items that are sized and/or shaped differently. Typically, such systems include mechanical guides for orienting or locating items which can be problematic when dealing with differently sized, weighted, and/or shaped items. Furthermore, such systems have fixed locations where items can be induced/charged or discharged from the conveyor and the speed as well as angle of items being discharged from the conveyor is fixed. For example, slat type sorters have been used that incorporate shoes for discharging items from the conveyor. However, the shoes are mechanically guided which in turn fixes or limits induction and discharge locations, and the speed of the shoes for discharging items is limited to the travel speed of the conveyor. As another example, cross belt sorters have been proposed in which a mechanical follower converts the relative movement of the conveyor into mechanical motion that moves the belts. In this type of cross belt sorter, the speed of the belts for discharging items is limited by the overall speed of the conveyor. Moreover, the mechanical linkages required to drive the belt force the system to have fixed locations where items can be induced onto or discharged from the conveyor. As might be appreciated, this inflexibility can be further problematic for items that require special handling, such as oversized or delicate items.
Other cross belt sorter systems have been proposed that incorporate electric motors to drive relatively wide belts that are 12 inches wide or even larger. Typically, the belts are sized to accommodate a single item. The belts have to be wide enough so that one item is able to be comfortably located on the belt and not interfere with items on adjacent belts. The systems likewise provide limited flexibility because they still require mechanical guides or other structures for orienting and positioning the items on the individual belt. Due to the large width of the belts along with the space required for the electric motor and associated control systems, recirculation of the belts is limited to a horizontal loop which among other things tends to waste floor space and limit its operational value. For example, the gap between adjacent carriages or carts needs to be sufficiently large so as to accommodate the turn radius of the conveyor. This gapping between carriages reduces the density of items on the conveyor which in turn reduces throughput. The gapping also inhibits the placement of items. Thus, there is a need for improvement in this field.